Long Live Us Stories

"A family tensely waits out a meningitis scare in a quarantined home
during the Great Recession. Small-town farmers in pre-war America
battle a tree the size of a skyscraper. In a day-after-tomorrow
dystopia, the new naughty contraband among rebellious teenagers is
starchy carbohydrates. And in a barely recognizable far future,
enlightened humanoids debate the implications of a mother who has
smothered her child. These are just some of the speculative visions
collected in the new Long Live Us by Chicago writer Mark R. Brand, author of the previous CCLaP hit Life After Sleep.
Known primarily as a science-fiction author, this new collection will
certainly not disappoint Brand's existing fans, with pieces set among
lunar colonists and blue-collar astronauts among other fanciful
situations; but this is also Brand expanding his scope and vision for
the first time, treating us with more down-to-earth stories set among
contemporary families and even offering up a Great Depression tall
tale. A multiple past winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award,
Brand is at the height of his creative power in Long Live Us, and the stories found within are sure to delight, disturb and thrill you long after you've finished reading."

, and the stories found within are sure to delight, disturb and thrill you long after you've finished reading."

Shitty Printers by JP Garrigues and Bo Fahs (Blue Star Press) $13.99 - From the first consumer inkjet to more modern monstrosities, Shitty Printers breaks down the worst offenders of our home offices. Featuring popular and exasperating home staples such as the HP Thinkjet 2225A, the Lexmark …